If you’re planning a cultural getaway, these Summer Art Exhibitions and Fairs highlight some of the season’s most compelling contemporary art programming—from Marseille’s historic Cantini Museum to the bustling halls of Art Basel in Switzerland. Here’s where to go and what to see.
Fremin Gallery: Lines of Departure
New York City, USA
Opening June 5, Fremin Gallery presents Lines of Departure, a dual exhibition featuring Belgian photographer Didier Engels and Swedish sculptor Johannes Nielsen. Engels captures the quiet drama of industrial decay through oxidized hulls and faded cargo textures, while Nielsen’s faceless bronze figures evoke presence through absence. Together, they form a visual dialogue rooted in minimalism and material resonance.
Website: www.fremingallery.com
Instagram: @fremingallery
Galerie Eric Mouchet: Ensemble on construisait un monde nouveau
Paris, France
Opening June 7, Galerie Eric Mouchet debuts Ensemble on construisait un monde nouveau—a group show revisiting the legacy of modernist architects and visual artists including Robert Michel and Louise Bodson. The exhibition revisits forgotten experiments in utopian design and artistic collaboration, offering a fresh view of interwar creative circles and their ideals for a new world.
Website: www.ericmouchet.com
Instagram: @galerieericmouchet
Art Basel & the Inaugural Art Basel Awards
Basel, Switzerland
The world’s leading contemporary art fair opens to VIP guests on June 16, with public days from June 19–22. This year marks the launch of the Art Basel Awards, honoring 36 international visionaries across nine categories including artists, curators, storytellers, and patrons. Notables include Lubaina Himid, Adrian Piper, and Candice Hopkins. The first Art Basel Awards Summit will be held June 20, spotlighting future changemakers and peer-selected honorees.
Website: www.artbasel.com/basel
Instagram: @artbasel
Cantini Museum: Alberto Giacometti – Sculpting the Void
Marseille, France
From June 6 to September 28, Marseille’s Cantini Museum presents Sculpting the Void, a major retrospective of Alberto Giacometti in collaboration with the Giacometti Foundation. Spanning surrealist sculptures, elongated figures, and rarely seen drawings, the exhibition traces the artist’s existential engagement with space, form, and the human condition. In parallel, the [mac] Museum hosts Ali Cherri’s The Watchers, a dialogue with Giacometti’s enduring legacy.
Website: www.marseille-tourisme.com
Instagram: @choosemarseille
Ojai Valley Museum: Seven Decades – The Art of Karen K. Lewis
Ojai, California, USA
Opening June 19, Seven Decades at the Ojai Valley Museum honors the life and work of Karen K. Lewis, a California-based painter whose practice spans portraits, landscapes, and abstract works. From co-founding a pioneering SoHo gallery in the 1970s to shaping the Ojai arts community, Lewis’s retrospective reflects a lifetime of creativity, connection, and reinvention. The exhibition runs through August 3.
Website: www.ojaivalleymuseum.org
Instagram: @ojaivalleymuseum
